


waves & the both of us

by for_centuries



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: F/M, pirates!, swordfights and jealousy and kissing oh my!, unrequited love (not so unrequited)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 18:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18708025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_centuries/pseuds/for_centuries
Summary: Happy May the Fourth to fukamidori-chan! The prompt was for a Pirate AU, and well, here we are!





	waves & the both of us

Captain Cassian Andor couldn’t quite believe that there had ever been a time in which he had ever considered leaving Jyn Erso - a stowaway on his ship, the Rising Hope - to fend for herself at the nearest port.

As he was slowly beginning to learn, she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but more importantly than that, she had proven to be an invaluable asset and addition to his small crew - a crew made up of Imperial defectors and war-displaced refugees, all of whom were led by a former spy.

Jyn Erso, a war orphan, rumored to have been taken in by Saw Gerrera, the most legendary and most feared pirate the seas had ever seen, made a perfect addition with her pickpocket and forging skills. And there was still more than met the eye when it came to her.

She wasn’t much of a cook, he recalled, wrinkling his nose at the memory of her last attempt. The galley still vaguely smelled of smoke, and the small crew had unanimously decided not to task her with meal preparations again unless absolutely necessary.

Jyn was no cook, but she was rather adept at navigating, and made it a point to assist Bodhi when he was at the helm.

She couldn’t fly across the rigging like blind Chirrut could, but she was small and fast and strong, as well as determined to prove that she could do whatever was asked of her, whether that was to raise sails or drop anchor. Cassian hadn’t outwardly admitted as such, but he was impressed with her tenacity.

‘Tenacity’, he told himself as he and Kay stood by and watched the fierce sparring match between Jyn and Baze - Baze, who physically dwarfed her, who was an expert with the blunderbuss strapped to his back, the pistols at his sides, the cutlasses secured to his chest.

It was that Baze that Jyn had stumbling backward as she advanced, sword in hand and a feral snarl twisting her expression into something unrecognizable.

These were not the hack-and-slash motions of a woman who had never picked up a sword before, Cassian thought, watching in awe as Jyn parried and thrusted and held off Baze’s offensive maneuvers. She moved like she had practiced these moves a thousand times before, so fluidly and gracefully, so full of confidence.

“Careful, Captain - “, his first mate muttered, distaste coloring his voice. “The stars in your eyes are shining bright.”

Cassian scowled and tried to school his expression into something interested but otherwise very neutral as he strode down onto the lower deck. Baze dropped his hand and bowed slightly, effectively calling the match to an end. He then bowed to Jyn, a gruff ‘little sister’ the only acknowledgment he gave that he was impressed with her fighting skills - and that this would not be the only instance that they would train.

“May I?”, Cassian asked, and Baze nodded, relinquishing hold of his sword and handing it to the captain. Cassian took his time in testing the weight of the blade and adjusting his grip. He far preferred the pistol strapped to his thigh, but as he had come to learn, it was always best to be prepared and to expect the unexpected.

When he was satisfied, he struck an offensive pose and beckoned Jyn closer. “Care to give it a go?”

His breath caught in his throat as she touched the tip of her sword to his and nodded her agreement, her smile small but undeniably mischievious. It was an expression that suggested that Cassian not underestimate her skills just because she happened to be of the ‘fairer sex’, and he did not intend to. 

He took a breath to center himself and then, without another word, surged forward on the attack. He watched as her eyes widened in surprise, but his triumph was short-lived as she fought back fiercely, just as deftly as she had handled the much larger Baze.

Cassian grunted from the effort he was expending to keep Jyn’s advances at bay. But for every step forward he won, she pushed him back two. He, too, had studied the blade copiously, and he was a keen observer, so when there was an opportunity to advance, he took it. He met and matched each thrust and parry and finally began gaining ground on Jyn a little at a time, until -

Until she stumbled and she dropped not only her elbow, but her guard as well. With a sharp twist of his wrist and the sound of blade striking blade, he managed to surprise Jyn long enough to disarm her. Her startled gasp filled the air as her sword clattered to the deck below, and it was then that Cassian made his move.

He didn’t grab at her or try to incapacitate her like he would with an actual enemy opponent, but he did lean in close enough to observe the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the high flush of color in her cheeks, and the fire still burning in her green eyes.

“Do you yield?”, he asked softly, even as he pointed the tip of his sword at her throat. “Do you yield to me?”

No answer came, but he thought he saw Jyn’s lips twitch upward in the split second before she lashed out and swept his bad leg out from underneath him. The next thing Cassian knew, he was sprawled out across the deck, staring at the almost cloudless sky, panting hard as Jyn kicked his sword away and kneeled at his side, pressing the blade of a knife that she must have kept secreted upon her person to his throat, right where his pulse beat rapidly against his skin.

“Do you yield?”

For all Cassian knew, it could have been minutes or it could have been days that he laid in a heap staring up at Jyn, trapped and helpless at her mercy, the sun beating down, his heart thumping against his ribs.

Vaguely, he could hear Kay’s voice coming into focus as he informed them dispassionately that Takodana was coming into view.

Takodana, the pirate’s paradise, presided over by Maz Kanata, an island out of the jurisdiction of pirate-hunters and the law, a refuge and restocking point that Cassian and his crew were very familiar with. He always enjoyed the rolling hills and all the green, and if he were of a mind to settle down, it would be in a place very much like Takodana.

But Cassian didn’t know if that kind of life awaited him, not with the threat of the Empire looming large, not when crews like his were needed to disrupt their expansion, to fight for those that couldn’t fight for themselves.

He sighed in relief as Jyn withdrew her sword and extended her free hand in its stead. Cassian grunted as he stood, but didn’t let go of Jyn’s hand immediately, small and warm, and as rough and work-worn as his own. But what he marveled at more was that she didn’t pull away immediately either. Cassian was almost convinced that he felt a soft squeeze, but it ended almost as quickly as it had begun. “Captain”, she murmured, and then took her leave in order to collect both swords and return them to Baze before tending to her docking duties.

Cassian had his own to attend to, but he was slower to move, shaking his head as if to clear it, silently chiding himself for feeling so … off-kilter.

What was Jyn Erso doing to him?

But there was little time to ponder the question as the small crew came to life and began making preparations for making landfall.

Baze and Chirrut offered to take first watch, with the larger man grumbling about Takodana being a young person’s paradise, but Cassian knew that the pair would take a meandering walk through the market later in the evening when the crowd had lessened.

“The ship is yours, gentlemen”, Cassian solemnly intoned, and then the four of them - Cassian, Kay, Bodhi, and Jyn - disembarked.

Arm-in-arm, Jyn and Bodhi took the lead while Cassian and Kay hung back a few paces to discuss the list of supplies that needed procuring.

But Cassian’s attention was soon drawn elsewhere - namely, toward Jyn, especially when her laughter reached his ears. She and Bodhi had taken to each other easily, Cassian had noticed. She was almost always so guarded and aloof with many others, but with Bodhi, she seemed to smile and laugh much more readily. He would never admit to feeling any sense of jealousy when he watched them together, but it was there, darkly gnawing at the pit of his belly.

But … he didn’t really have the right to feel that way, did he? He was just a captain and she was just a member of his crew, no more, no less. She certainly wasn’t his lady, and as such, was free to find companionship at any port they visited.

And she had no shortage of male admirers, he had noticed time and time again. Every time Cassian caught someone leering at Jyn, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. But she could take care of herself, she didn’t require his intervention, and as far as he knew, she didn’t entertain that sort of nonsense.

But she was close to Bodhi, the stuttering, nervous navigator, and every time he witnessed those little intimate moments they shared, his heart constricted painfully in his chest.

Like now.

Cassian must not have been doing a sufficient job of keeping his expression neutral, since it was Kay’s disgusted sigh that finally cut through his thoughts and brought him back to the present, where …

Jyn was glancing at him from over her shoulder, an eyebrow arched curiously, the hint of a wry smirk lifting the edges of her lips just enough to bring heat to Cassian’s cheeks.

Sometimes, all it took to send him spiraling was just one look.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly escape to the deck and the cool sea breeze, so instead, he cleared his throat and looked to Kay once more, nodding apologetically.

“If I may continue, Captain?”, his first mate crisply inquired, and again, Cassian nodded.

It was unbecoming of a man of his age - a man of his station - to behave in such a way.

What was Jyn Erso doing to him? And why was he allowing her to affect him so thoroughly? He ought to be ashamed of himself - Cassian was a blushing schoolboy no longer, he was a Captain, and had far more important things to devote his attention to.

“Yes”, he answered, suitably chagrined, reluctantly tearing his attention away from Jyn and shifting it back to the taller man at his side. “Apologies. Carry on.”

But even as they discussed what supplies took precedence over others, Cassian couldn’t help glancing at Jyn every now and again, just to try to catch a glimpse of her smile.

The quartet entered the makeshift marketplace, where travelers from near and far set up to peddle their wares, and Bodhi immediately split off, heading toward Maz Kanata’s ‘castle’, where Cassian knew he was going to test out Sabaac skills he had been nurturing during downtime aboard the Rising Hope.

As Cassian and Kay parted, he caught sight of Jyn hurrying away in the opposite direction, and wondered where she was off to, if she was eager to see someone, and -

Cassian wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t. He had no Earthly reason for it. And thankfully, he was distracted from it as he spoke to vendors, haggled over prices, and agreed upon delivery times.

And by the time he finally made it into the castle itself, he was so exhausted that all he wanted was a drink and perhaps a bite to eat before heading back to the ship. He needed to be there while supplies were delivered, after all, and Cassian felt far more comfortable there than in the midst of a crowd.

So he sat at the bar and nursed his drink and tried - and failed - to ignore the raucous laughter that erupted intermittently from the other patrons, some of whom were gambling, some making plans both legal and not, most of whom were drinking. He couldn’t bother hiding his scowl by the time Maz, the tiny proprietress, took the empty seat next to him, her knowing gaze just as unsettling as always.

“Captain Andor - “, she announced amiably enough, “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Thank you for your hospitality”, Cassian answered, tilting his half-empty glass in a friendly gesture. “We always appreciate it.”

“Your navigator will be returning with full pockets”, she commented, nodding toward the gaming tables with a smirk. “I hear that he hasn’t lost a hand yet.”

Cassian snorted and shrugged. “Doesn’t surprise me. He’s already won a few coins off of me and the rest of my crew, too.”

“And your tall friend”, she queried, although Cassian was certain that she already knew the answers to her questions. “Still as irascible as always, Captain?”

“That’s an understatement and you know it”, Cassian replied, his lips twitching into a smile. “But, yes.”

She laughed then, a deep, warm sound that was surprising coming from such a small woman. “Good, good. And the Guardians? I trust I’ll be seeing them before you depart.”

“Of course. They’ll come round once the sun goes down. Far be it from me to deprive you of your ceremonies, tea or otherwise.”

“You’re a good man, Cassian Andor, and a good Captain to them, even though you still question both”, she offered, and his eyebrows slowly raised one, and then the other.

She always knew, even when Cassian never so much as breathed a word of his insecurities to anyone.

He cleared his throat and let his eyes wander the bar a bit, immediately ceasing when Jyn came into view once more - grinning and pink-cheeked Jyn, who was hugging a brown-paper wrapped package close to her chest, her attention focused on the bringer, and not for the first time, Cassian’s heart seized at the thought that some stranger was receiving the sorts of happy smiles and laughter that he himself was still stranger to.

His gaze must have been boring into her, because eventually, Jyn slowly turned her head, and with a curious expression, her green eyes met Cassian’s brown.

Damn it all, he was blushing. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks, grateful for the relative dimness of the castle itself and the distance that separated them. Hopefully, she couldn’t see. And even as he cursed himself internally for behaving like a boy, when Jyn’s lips slowly spread into a smile, Cassian found himself returning it.

For one blissful moment, it felt like they were the only two people at the bar - the only two people in the world … and then it all came crashing to a halt as Jyn turned and made a quick exit, leaving Cassian feeling more confused and conflicted than ever before.

He murmured a soft apology when he noticed that Maz was still at his side, studying him intently. “No need to feel so lost, Captain - “, she offered, her voice gentle, but just firm enough to suggest that he not argue - as if he ever would have dreamed of such a thing, not with her. “All you have to do is follow your North Star. It will never lead you astray.”

She, too, was off like a shot, tending to other patrons as Cassian finished his drink and pondered the meaning of her words. With no new answers in hand and the hour for deliveries nearing, he took his leave of the castle and headed back toward the dock, where the Rising Hope was moored. His hard-earned ship, the only real home he had ever known.

With Kay’s precise directions, the new supplies were soon stored in their proper places, every bit of it accounted for. Bodhi had returned to the ship midway through, pockets bulging with his card winnings, taking care of the watch so that Chirrut and Baze could take their turn on shore.

But Jyn - Jyn was nowhere to be found, and usually, she was the first to offer a hand with deliveries. Cassian’s stomach clenched as he wondered if she had gone off with her maybe-beau to spend the night away from prying eyes - his own included. He reminded himself yet again that it was not his concern. And, as he turned to Kay and informed his first mate that he was retiring to his quarters where he did not want to be disturbed until it was his turn to take watch. He hoped that some rest would somehow wash away emotions that he didn’t know what to do with, but held no real belief that in the course of a few short hours, he would be able to untangle everything neatly.

Cassian leaned against his closed door an sighed heavily, rubbing at tired eyes as if that was going to help in the slightest. Dropping his hands to his sides, he was about to step into his quarters more fully when he was stopped right in his tracks.

Jyn.

In his quarters. Sitting on the edge of his bunk, fidgeting with her fingers as though she had any Earthly reason to be nervous in front of him.

She stood up suddenly, and in the low lamplight, Cassian’s eyes widened when he realized that he had never seen her like this before - he was far more used to seeing her in breeches and boots, rolling her shirtsleeves to her elbows before tackling her assigned tasks with fervor.

But the Jyn standing in front of him was so markedly different that he hardly knew what to think. Jyn, with her thick, wavy hair loose and framing her face Jyn, clad in creamy finery that the most genteel of women would be jealous of, Jyn, the most beautiful woman that Cassian had ever laid eyes upon. Throat dry and thoughts so jumbled that Cassian couldn’t quite formulate anything resembling coherent, and he watched helplessly as her expression shifted from expectant to embarrassed in the span of one heartbeat.

Although he struggled to do it, Cassian finally found enough presence of mind to blurt out the first thing that he could think of, the first thought that took root, afraid that if he didn’t say something, she would disappear into the night and he would never be granted this opportunity again.

“You’re beautiful!”

He watched as she quickly ducked her head, but in the moment just before, he thought he saw that she was smiling.

“You always are - “ he continued, slowly stepping forward, careful not to scare her away. “I simply mean that this is not the first time I’ve noticed. I - I … “

He laughed then, a breathless, overwhelmed sound, lifting a hand to rub nervously at the back of his neck. He felt trapped by an insane urge to continue explaining, even as he approached all the closer still and the pair began circling each other, orbiting each other, almost like a dance.

“I had hoped … “, she began.

“I didn’t want to take advantage … “, he continued.

“But when you look at me, I - “, she breathed.

“You make me feel things that I am wholly unaccustomed to”, Cassian admitted, inhaling sharply when he realized just how close they’d gotten, how very little personal space remained between them.

From this distance or lack thereof, Cassian could see the brown and gray flecks in Jyn’s eyes, and the light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Gods, she was stunning.

“So you do?”, she asked, her voice lifting tremulously - hopefully. “You feel it, too?”

After a moment’s pause, Cassian laughed again, incredulously, as he slowly extended a hand for Jyn to take if she chose to, the warmth in his stomach simmering as she did, winding warm and work-roughened fingers together, holding on like they didn’t want to have to let go.

“Yes. Probably since the moment that you threatened to toss me off the side if I so much as laid a finger on you.”

His mirth soon gave way to his usual seriousness as he continued. “Every glance, every smile, every conversation … my feelings have grown and grown. But I worried that you might think that I expected you to - to do things with me that you were not interested in doing just to stay onboard, and Jyn - ?”

Cassian paused, took a breath, shook his head and forged ahead. There was no stopping now, after all, no taking anything back.

“I want you on my crew because you’re competent in your skills and a confident sailor. Any Captain would be so fortunate to have you.”

He paused again, the silence a little awkward as he pondered what to say next - and he still had plenty he wanted her to know - gasping his surprise as Jyn breached the divide left between them and surged up onto her tiptoes to capture his lips in a kiss.

Startled, Cassian kept still for a moment, but eventually, his instincts came to life and he slowly curled his free arm around her waist to keep her close, a softly pleased little groan the only noise he made as his eyes fluttered shut and he returned the kiss with vigor, although he tried valiantly to keep from deepening it too fast or take liberties that she wasn’t offering him.

But maybe there was no mistaking her intention as she nipped at his lips and heatedly murmured his name, his body unable to keep from shivering in response.

This - now - was so much better than anything he had previously conjured up using an admittedly very vivid imagination. This was real. Jyn was real - warm and solid in his arms and responding to Cassian in ways that he had never before imagined possible. But fleetingly, he found himself thinking that if this really was just another dream, it was a dream that he never wanted to wake from.

She took a step forward, forcing Cassian to step backward, repeating the movements until the back of his knees touched the edge of the bunk and contact was broken as he found himself suddenly sitting, gazing up at Jyn through hazy, adoring eyes.

She didn’t have a sword pointed at his throat, but Cassian still found himself at her mercy. And when he murmured a husky - “I yield” he still meant it wholeheartedly.

He knew it was soon, but somehow, he already knew that no matter where the tides brought them, Cassian wanted Jyn by his side to meet it all head on. Somehow, he got the feeling that life with Jyn was always going to be an adventure, and maybe that was always what he had been searching for, what he had been meant to find.

“Thank the Gods, this bloody corset is killing me.”

Maybe he was well and truly home now.


End file.
